


Sometimes obvious solutions shouldn't be ignored by canon

by SkullPeonia



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Ishimaru Kiyotaka Lives, M/M, Monokuma (Dangan Ronpa) Being An Asshole, Oowada Mondo-centric, Owada Mondo Lives, Togami Byakuya Being An Asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25464283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkullPeonia/pseuds/SkullPeonia
Summary: Everything's the same until the conclusion of the second Class Trial, when Mondo manages to walk away with his life.
Relationships: Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Oowada Mondo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 132





	1. Chapter 1

“All right, it’s almost time!”

Ishimaru’s tear-filled, twitching gaze fell onto the loud laughing slit, lined with rows of sharp, hungry teeth. In their surface Ishimaru could see his reflection, and after Monokuma moved its head the image shined with light and instead reflected Mondo, his figure broken by the edges of the teeth as the bear cackled.

“N-No, you mean…”

Until now his head was filled with cruel and destructive thoughts. How he should have known better. How he was a bad friend for not showing interest in Mondo’s secret. How he should have insisted they all shared their secrets with each other immediately. How he could have done a thousand different things that would have changed the series of events of that evening. But he could not take back time and do something differently to avoid the whole situation to begin with, something he will never forgive himself for, but still something there was no point in thinking about anymore.

“I promised you an execution for anyone who disrupts the peaceful school life , didn’t I?”

“H-Hold on!” his voice hitched pretty badly. This was his one and only chance.

“I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Oowada Mondo, the Ultimate Bosozoku leader!”

In this very moment he still had the time to think of a way out. Unfortunately at this point Ishimaru seemed only capable of desperate acts. Voting for himself didn’t help at all but Ishimaru couldn’t focus enough right now to notice this or examine the situation clearly; by now his head was pounding too badly. But there had to be another option, there always was. It was simply a matter of persevering until the option was found. The very thing Ishimaru was good at; never giving up.

“N-No, wait! Please wait!” the model student seemed to have lost all care for personal dignity and standards, stumbling toward the bear.

But he still couldn’t think of anything.

“All right, let's give it everything we've got! It's...PUNISHMENT TIME!”

Ishimaru ran the last few steps over to Monokuma’s throne and yelled right in its face.

“I’m telling you to wait, damn it!”

He just needed more time.

Behind Ishimaru’s back Mondo was saying final prayers under his breath.

“I’m sorry, Aniki. I couldn’t keep our promise.”

“I! SAID! WAIT!”

But the robot-plush-bear made a silly little dance and from out of nowhere pulled out a giant carnival hammer and jubilantly raised it over its head, about to get the highest score and win its prize.


	2. Chapter 2

“You can’t do this.”

A voice curtly stated. It actually gave the bear a pause and he lowered his hammer, quizzically tilting its head at the source of the interference. Many faces around the circle followed Monokuma’s gaze toward none other than Kirigiri, who stood there unmoving, with eyes that appeared very calm at first glance however had a determination to them if you looked longer. Ishimaru’s cries quieted, his eyes widened at the sudden turn of events, still filled with panic and not yet filled with hopelessness.

“I can’t do this? I CAN’T DO THIS? The audacity, to speak like this to the headmaster? To interrupt in the execution of justice? Who do you think you are, young lady?”

“You said ‘If someone doesn't become a culprit in 24 hours, I’ll reveal your embarrassing secrets to the whole world!’. You broke that rule just now.”

In an instant everyone’s attention snapped to Kirigiri. In that one second it seemed like all sound was sucked out of the room as a result of everybody intensely focusing all of their attention on her; eyes and ears glued as the meaning of her words dawned on everyone.

“What?! That was no rule! That was just a thing I said. I babble on like this sometimes. You really shouldn’t pay too much attention to such details-“

“You can’t wiggle out of this Monokuma. That was no random comment. You promised this as a prize-”

“For the culprit to win, but he didn’t!” Monokuma petulantly squeaked in its high-pitched voice and bumped its paws in the air.

“No, you promised to keep ALL secrets if anyone became a culprit, meaning if anyone killed another student, which did occur, and yet you revealed not only Chihiro’s secret but Oowada’s too.” Kirigiri explained patiently, in a measured voice and with a poker face, but there was a slight change in her eyes, there was more sharpness to them, like she knew she could win this battle.

“Oh but still, what do you expect me to do about it, what’s done is done, I can’t just NOT follow the school rules, right? Ishimaru?”

Ishimaru, who seemed to be too preoccupied with the words coming out of Kirigiri’s mouth jumped at the mention of his name, his breath becoming more shallow again and eyes becoming more glassy.

Meanwhile the entire time Mondo just stood there, still not looking at anything in particular, just existing in his numb body with his numb mind, that couldn’t really comprehend the unavoidable, the horrors and the final end that were planned, awaiting just for him.

“No, there is a solution to this problem. Simply annul the trial.”

Mondo slightly moved his head to the side, maybe he was beginning to wake up from his stupor and mind his surroundings more, maybe he was considering allowing himself the spark of hope, or maybe it was just a tic from the nerves.

“What? Annul the trial? That can’t be-”

“Actually, this is the only option you’ve got if you want this killing game to continue as you planned.”

“ . . . WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ALL THIS TALK? YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO BE DISRUPTIVE FOR THE SAKE OF IT LIKE ALL YOU TEENAGERS, AREN’T YOU?” Monokuma screeched.

“You broke your own promise, and your word was all you could offer to us in the way of assuring us the game is fair-“

The bear tilted its head to the side, bringing up its paw to cover its mouth, with the blank stare of its glass eyes seeming even more dead and deadly than usual. At this point some students broke their gazes away from Kirigiri to pay attention to Monokuma, the change of the atmosphere in the room slowly putting each student in a state of discomfort.

“From now on your plan can never work again as a game. The next time, whatever it is you promise to the possible future culprit, it will be meaningless. You give us no reasons to believe that you will ever keep whatever promise you make, that you will actually honor the prize of freedom or any additional prizes to the graduate.”

With that Kirigiri finished her argument, and it seemed no one had anything to add to that, and all Ishimaru could utter were very audible breaths. With his eyes glazed over, he along with all other students were gazing now at Monokuma who simply stared at the ground without a word.

The whole class held its breath.

“Well, well, look at that” it started slowly “it would seem I have no other option indeed…”

“So I guess this just means that ALL OF YOU BETTER GET OUTTA HERE, YOU SPOILED KIDS, GOOD FOR NOTHING-” and the bear started having a fit, kicking and punching its little paws into its throne.

Despite Monokuma’s animated response, there was a sense of panic among everybody. Some by this point were already out of their stands, halfway down to the elevator door, others stood in their place, lost in the situation.

However in all this there was also a sense of relief, many minds that were filled with relentless buzzing until now knew a little peace and could take a calming breath for the first time in what felt like hours.

Ishimaru zeroed in on Mondo who still haven’t moved from his stand, shell shocked at the turn of events, with his mouth wide agape but with no words coming out. He rushed over to him, pulling him back to make him stand down from his podium. Unfortunately Mondo’s grogginess combined with his stature made it hard to try to forcefully steer him.

Kirigiri had the clarity of mind to order “We have to go. Now!” and immediately made eye contact with Sakura who simply nodded and moved over to Mondo.

“-YOU PUT IN ALL OF THIS WORK! SOCIETY CANNOT FUNCTION WITHOUT LAWS! THE DAMNED KIDS WITH THEIR DAMNED ATTITUDES-” at this point Monokuma was jumping up and down on his seat angrily, barely visible smoke coming out of its head.

“Everybody in.”

The elevator filled in instantaneously as all the students pilled in and pushed each other in or pushed past each other as Monokuma’s fit was still raging in the courtroom.

Sakura steered Mondo inside as well and the elevator door started closing, all silent as they watched the door shut on their headmaster hitting its head against its throne.

And the elevator started moving.

Nobody in the crowd spoke a word for several moments, there were only heavy breaths filling the air. The sounds of the moving elevator the only loud noise that was also oddly quite calming.

And then a loud, hollow bang sounded as Ishimaru pushed Mondo roughly against the wall.

He was pinning him to the wall, holding him by the collar of his biker overcoat, there were words stuck in his throat, clearly paining him, but all that escaped was more streaks of tears from his eyes.

By this point Mondo looked really distraught but also finally awake to his surroundings, and he was staring back at Ishimaru.

After several attempts at making his voice work again, the pained words escaped Ishimaru.

“Why? Why-why-why-why-why??”

“Why …” Ishimaru’s voice broke badly on a swallowed sob, his voice hitching with every panicked breath “-why didn’t-didn’t you-argh!” he shook Mondo harshly. Sakura who was still hanging near them approached, she reassuringly put her hands on Ishimaru’s shoulders and drew them a little apart.

“This is not the time for fights amongst ourselves. Please, we need to focus.” She said.

“I-I-I hope you g-guys k-know w-what you’re doing” Fukawa stuttered out “If not, t-then you m-may have d-doomed us all.”

“The bear is gonna kill us for this, won’t he?” Hifumi mumbled, his voice getting higher as he spoke.

“No, stop this guys, this is a fortunate turn of events for us! We thought back successfully, and avoided more deaths. That’s good, right?”

Togami scoffed “Speak for yourself.”

“You may say we won this battle, yes. But…” Celestia mused “in the long run this may make it harder for us to win the war, so to speak.”

Naegi didn’t look like he liked the responses but in that moment the elevator door opened on the first floor and everyone pooled out into the corridor, Sakura still pushing Mondo forward. They all walked together to their dorm area wordlessly, irregular clicking of their heels against the floor reverberating down the hall. Upon reaching Mondo’s room Ishimaru swung the door open and let Sakura steer Mondo inside. Ishimaru swiftly followed, his face dripping with water and snot and twisted into an ugly frown. Kirigiri caught up to them, walking in right behind Ishimaru and closed the door with a snap.

That left everyone else standing in the hallway, no one certain what to do next.

“So..um, should we just…go to bed now?” Hagakure suggested.

“I don’t think I want to sleep alone tonight.” Asahina added quickly.

“Uhh, Aoi, I really don’t think us sleeping together is a good idea-”

“Ugh, I wasn’t suggesting it like that! But do you really think it’s safe for us to split up now?”

“Yes, it is.” Togami sighed “Whatever repercussions the bear may think up later they are not something we have to worry about in this moment.”

And without another word he turned on his heel and walked into his room, his door closing behind him with a click. After that the crowd dispersed slowly, with people only exchanging silent glances before like shadows on the wall disappearing into their rooms.

Naegi was the last one left, and he just stood there for a while longer, lost in thought. He gave the doors with Mondo’s name on it a final glance. Despite a small frown on his face he made himself smile a little and walked into his own room.


	3. Chapter 3

There was something. Something bothering him. Something wasn’t quite right but he couldn’t remember what. But the feeling was ever-present, subtle but nevertheless causing a constant state of disquiet.

But there was also the sense of progression of sorts, a sense that he couldn’t even explain in any way. Maybe it was connected to the pulsating sensation that he only now stated becoming aware of. Like things were moving forward. Maybe it was more like a repetitive rhythmic sound. Something very near him, something at his core, something within his heart. It was the beating.

How odd that his heart was still beating – was it supposed to do that?

But despite all the doubt the pounding continued. Was it more a feeling or a sound? He thought he was hearing sounds-

Then in an instant it dawned on him that there was a rhythmical sound filling the room, someone was knocking on the doors very gently.

He opened his eyes.

He was in his room at Hope’s Peak, the morning after the trial that should have ended with his execution. He was sitting on his bed with his back against the headboard. Ishimaru was on the bed with him, he was still deep in his sleep. He was curled in on himself with his head resting on Mondo’s lap. The clothes that he was wearing were creased and his hair was ruffled, a very uncharacteristic look for the prefect. His hands were close to his face, half covering it. But even then you could still see the pinkish cheeks and puffy eyes left from hours of crying. Mondo gingerly moved his hand up to Ishimaru’s hair and buried his fingers into it. The short and spiky yet soft hair swam through his fingers. In this moment this was the only sensation Mondo noticed, the one that reminded him that he was still alive and how pleasant that could feel like. His fingertips would brush against Ishimaru’s scalp sometimes and the electricity from the contact would run up Mondo’s fingers, and up his spine.

But more knocking on his doors distracted Mondo from those sensations.

He reluctantly untangled his fingers from Ishimaru’s hair and dragged his hand over his face, pulling at the skin and pressing at his eyes, trying to rub the sleep away, but only managing to make his eyes prick even more than they already did.

He slipped his hand underneath Ishimaru’s head and guided it off his lap. It wobbled a little as on top of Mondo’s unsteady hold but this didn’t wake him up.

Mondo swung his now free leg over the bed’s edge and planted his foot on the floor. He could already feel his limb being drained from what little energy it had. After a second to pull himself together he breathed out and swung out the other leg as well.

Standing up he fought the shakiness in his legs and marched on.

His head was filled with nothing but droning as he approached the doors. He walked all the way up to them and then thoughtlessly opened them, just like that.

And from behind the doors his eyes stared back at him. Unlike his own eyes, the reflections were sharp, alive and focused.

“Everyone is waiting for you.” They said.

“A’right.” Mondo mumbled “We’ll be there.”

To that Kirigiri gave a curt nod and departed the scene.

Mondo closed the doors and sealed himself back again inside of his limbo.

He walked over to the bed and crawled back onto it, settling himself on his knees right next to Ishimaru.

Even while sleeping Ishimaru still looked exhausted. His eyebrows were tense, his mouth formed into a grimace, his eyes seemed more wrinkled, his whole face looked older than it did yesterday. Mondo hated to wake him up already. From what he could tell Ishimaru only got an hour or two of sleep.

He checked the time on Leon’s e-handbook, it was nearing 8am.

That was pretty early for a lot of his classmates. So it seems the whole class couldn’t sleep either, or they wanted to have the situation resolved as fast as possible. Mondo couldn’t blame them, but he also personally wasn’t in any hurry. Being locked up in his room, with Ishimaru asleep, in complete silence and stillness, it felt like eternity, and it felt like peace. There was a huge part of him that just wanted to stay like this forever, he had no need for leaving his room, it felt safe here like it was a different reality, and as long as he stayed inside he could stay living in this reality and not have to face the one waiting for him outside.

But he realized that this was just an illusion, if Monokuma wanted to reach him he could easily do so in this room, and sooner or later Ishimaru would wake up, and the spell would shatter.

Reveling in the last few seconds of comfort, Mondo reached his hand to Ishimaru’s shoulder, his hand heavy as it lay there, and he shook him gently. He leaned over, bringing his face up close to Ishimaru’s and whispered.

“Kyo-Kiyotaka? Kiyotaka?” he got little reaction. Ishimaru was heavily asleep, so he tried again “Kyodai??” he swallowed.

Mondo wasn’t certain whether he could still use that word. The previous night’s ‘intervention’ in his room didn’t really make it clear to him. The entire time Ishimaru tried again and again to say something coherent but it was all just gross sobbing and repeating the same sentiments and half-formed sentences over and over again. There were also some issues Kirigiri was bringing up but Mondo wasn’t listening to her, he was too tired to pay any mind to anything outside his immediate surroundings and all his attention was dedicated to trying to comfort Ishimaru. He’s not even certain if Sakura said a word during this whole time, she might have.

“Kyodai?” Mondo shook him a little harder.

Ishimaru’s frown deepened and he started steering. He opened his eyes by a fraction and tuned his face to Mondo.

“M-Mondo?” he murmured weakly.

“Yeah?” his voice came out surprisingly warm. More so than the biker ever thought himself capable of.

There wasn’t any real response to this. Ishimaru just stretched out laying on his back and rubbed his eyes, his face expression turning darker as the memories of the previous night came back to him.

Finally Ishimaru opened his eyes and looked up at Mondo with his sad, debilitating gaze. The sight made Mondo want to hide somewhere and never come out out of shame. After all he’d done Mondo could still make himself believe there was hope for him, if only Ishimaru said so.

And as if in response to a silent prayer Ishimaru’s eyes smiled at him.

The corners of his mouth struggled with forming a smile to match the look in his eyes but that didn’t stop Mondo’s lips from twisting into a smile in return.

“Is it already morning?” Ishimaru tried at a confident tone of his but didn’t quite succeed.

“Yeah, c’mon, everyone’s waitin’ already.”

“Eh? We are late? Oh, no. Then we’d better hurry!” Ishimaru breathed out while getting to his feet, that action alone already visibly draining him just like it happened to Mondo.

Mondo let himself let out a chuckle. His voice again coming out as way softer and warmer than he anticipated.

Despite the properness that Ishimaru couldn’t contain even in these circumstances, he didn’t actually spare a second to even check himself in a mirror, otherwise he might have been a little embarrassed of his disheveled look.

Mondo hurried to his side and exited after him. Ishimaru’s determination rubbed onto him and Mondo himself became more awake. He no longer wanted to stay in that room anyway, now it seemed to Mondo the room itself was sucking out his energy the whole time, and there were still issues that might need resolving, but now he felt like he was up to facing them.

They walked over the short distance and went through the cafeteria entrance.

Everyone was indeed already inside, no one ate or really talked as far as Mondo could see. All the students were either sitting awkwardly or fidgeting in their seats at the table, some stood around, hanging over the sitting students with tense postures and crossed arms.

Everyone turned to them as they approached.

For a few moments it seems everyone was lost for words. In the end it was Fukawa who provoked the conversation.

“S-so? W-What now?!”

“Maybe nothing. I mean, it was kinda decided yesterday, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t be so naïve.” Togami scoffed. Asahina in return glared daggers at him but he acted like he didn’t even notice.

“No worries classmates!” Ishimaru boomed “I will personally converse with the headmaster to make sure everything is well.”

“You really think it’s gonna be that simple?” Hagakure’s uncertain voice came somewhere from the back of the room.

“But of course, it’s just a matter of clearing things out through open discussion. As the class representative I will handle this myself so none of you have to worry yourselves anymore.” Ishimaru finished with a wide smile. That was a drastic change in demeanor for Ishimaru since yesterday and currently he was the only one in the room with his hopes that high, naively high, dangerously so considering the circumstances. You could see the same kind of uncertainty displayed on all the faces staring back at Ishimaru in the wake of his short speech.

Mondo hanged back behind Ishimaru, didn’t say a word and just observed everyone from under his pompadour as the scene unfolded. His eyes swiftly flying from person to person.

“What if it won’t go your way?” Togami couldn’t help himself.

“I will _make_ it go my way. Thank you very much for your consideration, Togami.” A flash of anger was present in Ishimaru’s voice before it disappeared as quickly as it came.

Togami stared at him through his glasses, with his eyes like that of a cat that was pushed off of the sofa.

“You know, why should any of us tolerate the presence of a murdered amongst us anyway?” Ishimaru’s eyes snapped to Togami’s and stared at him unblinkingly, fury seeping from the red that burned like scorching embers “This whole situation can make it so much harder for me to win from now on. And the imbecile has already proven himself to be a wild card. And why should any of us pay for his mistakes?”

With no warning Mondo started marching toward Togami, he’s had enough of that guy. His whole vision went red and he could feel his face twist painfully in an ugly snarl. He moved so violently that Togami despite himself instinctively hurried to his feet so much it made him sway on his legs.

But then Ishimaru’s arm shot in front of him, blocking his way. Mondo growled at it and snapped his head to look at him, before calming down completely in one moment. Before anyone could say anything Ishimaru started.

“Says the person who since the begging, over and over again rejected the offers of camaraderie and insisted on establishing himself as an enemy to everyone else. The one who yesterday desecrated a body of a classmate, for fun, and therefore from now on will always be suspected during every class trial.”

By the look of his eyes you could tell Togami was unhappy with that comment, and that he was mad at Ishimaru for making it rather than because he acknowledged his shortcomings. A hollow disappointed smile flashed on Ishimaru’s face.

“Sit down, Togami.”

Mondo failed to stifle a laugh, Ishimaru looked at him questioningly. Of course he didn’t realize what he’d just said, but it was enough that by the pout of Togami’s lips it was obvious that he knew what it meant. It seems Fukawa also knew the slang because she was standing behind Togami, appalled with her mouth wide open and her hands on her bust.

The rest of the class simply observed, none too eager to come to Togami’s defense so soon after what he did to Chihiro.

* DING DONG BING BONG *

“Attention! Attention! All students are to gather in the gym for an announcement, immediately! I repeat. All students are to gather in the gym for an announcement!”

Many students jumped in their seats at the noise booming loudly through the speakers. Everyone was too focused on the scene unfolding before them to remember that they were expecting that this would happen. People exchanged scared glances between each other. No one eager to make the first move, or in any way rush into the situation that was so dangerous for Mondo. However, here and there, there was scuttling amongst the students wanting to make their way to the gym before Monokuma grew impatient.

“Ah?! I was hoping to approach the headmaster myself, but, I suppose, that will do too.” Ishimaru said abashedly, his voice wavering and betraying his faked confidence.

He looked into Mondo’s eyes, and Mondo looked back. It was a strange kind of intimacy, a second of comfort, a moment to steel themselves for what was to come, and Ishimaru started turning back toward the exit, Mondo following his lead.

“Well, it looks like it’s your time to show off your diplomatic skills, Ishimaru.”

Something in Mondo’s mind bent. Before Togami finished the sentence he had already made up his mind about teaching this punk a lesson. If things end up going badly for him this might be his last chance to make Togami pay and he isn’t going to let anyone convince him to pass up this opportunity anymore.

He spun on his heel, and that only made the impact more forceful. Togami was knocked to the ground so hard he slid on its surface, with both his hands covering his face. Fukawa was on her knees next to him in an instant.

“B-Byakuya! Are y-you alright?!” she breathed out a squeak, with her teeth nervously bared and small fists balled up near her torso.

“Do I look alright, Fukawa?” he spat, making her recoil and clutch at her braids. There was more bickering from the two, Fukawa trying to tend to him, and Togami trying not to let her do that and instead letting out his frustration on her. However Mondo was already out of the cafeteria. This was definitely about him, he was really the only person Monokuma wanted there and Mondo was fuming and just wanted to be done with this.

Ishimaru was hurrying behind him, trying to catch up. Behind Ishimaru the rest was now rushing too. From the cafeteria a distant “C’mon guys.” Sounded from Naegi.

Mondo really didn’t care about waiting for any of them. He pushed the double door open to reveal to him the brightly lit gym, completely empty.

“I’m here Monokuma. What do ya want?”

There was no answer, but the bear was obviously aware of what was happening, it was just ignoring him.

“Wasn’t everythin’ figured out yesterday? What are ya tryin’ to play at?” Mondo, with the years of experience from being in his gang under his belt, managed to pull off the confident and nonchalant demeanor.

By this point all the rest was at the scene as well, all pooled behind Mondo. Even Togami was already there, standing in the back with a hand to his deep red cheek along with Fukawa. Them and a few other students who were hanging at the back of the group were still standing in the doorway, unable to move forward because of the crowd.

At the end of the gym the bear popped up from his podium and waved at them.

“Looks like this is everybody!”

It said in its high-pitched voice and jumped down from the stage.

“That means we can get started!” the voice got even higher and falsely sweeter.

It was walking from across the gym all the way to the other side to where the class was gathered. A small plush toy with its exaggerated movements, but menacing nonetheless.

Behind Mondo students started moving more into the room and to the sides, dispersing a little to get a better look.

“Started with what?!” his voice came out rougher than he expected.

“Why, started with the Business! Of! The! Day!” it announced jubilantly.

“…What do you mean?” Mondo lowered his head, still looking up in the bear’s direction.

“Huh? I obviously mean the procedures connected to the lawful functioning of the school.”

By this point Monokuma was right at Mondo’s feet, and the biker’s tough persona started slipping. Behind him it looked like Ishimaru was making up his mind about when to say his piece, his eyes smartly darting from his friend to the bear with his eyebrows lightly furrowed. As he opened his mouth to say something the bear bowed at the waist in front of Mondo, taking Ishimaru and everyone else aback.

“I, Monokuma, the headmaster of this prestigious school, your humble host, and the bear extraordinaire… am so terribly, terribly sorry about the misconduct of rules in the halls of this school.” It stated in a depressed tone that clashed with its child-like voice “I have failed in my responsibilities as a headmaster by not supervising the class trial properly and for that I will be forever ashamed.” the bear hunched in on itself, its gaze directed at the floor.

“S-so that’s it? You will leave him be?” Ishimaru stated from behind Mondo.

“Yes, absolutely! Like I said, I’m a bear of my word. Congratulations to Oowada Mondo for making it through the second class trial! I must say you squirmed out of that one fair and square!”

The bear’s cheerful demeanor was gone in an instant and a flash of light shone off of its newly drawn claws.

“But I _promise_ this _won’t_ happen again.” Momentarily its tone turned low and threatening, only to be immediately replaced by an overly gleeful one once more. “Okay kids, that’s it! Bye! Bye! See you later!”

And the bear swirled around and started strolling in the opposite direction towards it’s podium.

Everyone just exchanged glances, waiting for the bear to be gone before the conversation could erupt. Some way down to the podium the bear stopped in its tracks and turned its head back to the students “Oh, I almost forgot!”

There was a flash of light and a stifled yelp. Everyone turned in the direction of the disturbance, gasps and cries filling the air. Kirigiri was on her knees, with both hands to her cheek, red spilling from in between her fingers.

There were a few people with enough clarity of mind to go to Kirigiri’s side immediately. Asahina and Sakura were already kneeling next to her.

Shocked faces surrounded the scene, after a second Naegi, Hagakure and Ishimaru also darted to her side, standing behind the girls and blocking the view even further.

Asahina reached her hand up to Kirigiri’s wound but wavered before she did anything, her hand trembling in the air. Kirigiri’s eyes were tight shut, her expression twisted in pain, as though she was suppressing a whimper.

Ishimaru looked like he wanted to get closer to Kirigiri, starting something about first aid before Asahina shook off her dismay.

“Kyoko! Don’t worry! We’ve got you!” she turned to Sakura “We’ve gotta take her to the infirmary!”

Sakura nodded and together they started helping Kirigiri to her feet. She seemed to be in too much pain to speak but she let her classmates guide her. She held an iron grip on her wound, the blood now running down her hand and down her neck, leaving small puddles on the floor.

Mondo’s eyes bulged from their sockets, his feet felt heavy but his knees felt like jelly. He probably should be doing something, helping out a girl who has been assaulted. Normally he would be the first one to act in this kind of situation, but the knowledge that he was the cause of this made him stand back, and not say or do anything.

“Puhuhuhu…”

That snapped Mondo from his thoughts. He barred his teeth. He was feeling reckless again.

In this moment the idea of sharp things flying at him wasn’t enough to scare him from shredding the bear with his bare hands.

“You bastard.” he cracked his knuckles and turned around.

But Monokuma was already at the other side of the gym, standing on its podium. It waved back from where it stood, did a somersault and dived into the podium.

The sounds of commotion and panic behind him made Mondo turn back to face his classmates again.

Several people at once were supporting Kirigiri and slowly leading her out of the room as she continued to clutch her face.

Bent forward and dragging her feet on the ground cautiously, she disappeared through the door.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how long this will be or how frequent the updates will be but I'll try my best.


End file.
